Saturday, November 03, 2007

Bunnies were running amok at DreamHaven Books last night! The volunteers from the Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society really helped to make the signing special and fun by bringing some of their bunnies and MCRS was ready with information on living with a rabbit for anyone considering that life path. It was crazy and fun! When we were leaving for the event last night, we had received a shipment of books in the mail and we decided to take it with us on the off chance DreamHaven would run out. Within a half hour, the manager came over and asked if we had any extra--and they ended up selling our whole case! Fortunately, we live only a few blocks away and Bill had to run home and get a few more books that I had stashed in a closet!

I honestly had no idea how many people to expect and was surprised, overwhelmed and grateful to look up at one point and see a line through the store extending so far that I couldn't see the end of it. Holy Cow!

I have to say, Cinnamon was at her best. I was a little worried about how she would do with all the people. When I used to work at the birds store, she loved the attention and all the petting, but it's been a few years and I wondered if she was out of the habit. Oh my, how my concerns in vain! She was back in her element and she loved all the attention.

Bill was on Cinnamon wrangling duty, as she was excited to hop around the store (she loves carpeting) but to also he had to make sure she didn't get too close to the other rabbits (like cute little Coco above)--she just does not play well with other bunnies and I'd hate to see her get into a brawl and have it end up on a gossip blog.

When it was about time for the store to close, Elizabeth the manager asked if I would mind staying a little later because some people were on their way and were running late. If someone was making an effort to come for the book, I was willing to stay. I figured that they must have been coming from perhaps a far suburb like Chaska or Woodbury and just stuck in traffic--no, they were coming from Chicago! These ladies in the above photo came all the way to the Twin Cities from Chicago to get their book singed and meet Cinnamon! I was stunned. When I asked what else they had going on in the Twin Cities, they said they weren't sure, they just came up for this. They weren't the farthest, there was also someone who came up from Indianapolis too--Cinnamon's popularity is astounding.

As the shop closed, Bill and I looked down on Cinnamon, and she had kicked out her back legs and was laying on the floor--she was exhausted. So we took her home and set her up with a fresh carrot (complete with green top) in her Cottontail Cottage and then headed out to dinner ourselves.

I want to thank everyone who came last night--really, honestly THANK YOU! And I have to thank Ian and Margery on fm107 who helped promote the event on their show this week--I did have people come up and tell me that's where they heard about it. I have to thank Elizabeth at DreamHaven for not only providing drinks and cookies for all the humans, but also for having lots of fresh organic parsley on hand for all the bunnies. And again, thank you to the Minnesota Companion Rabbit Society for bringing bunnies and spreading the good word about rabbit adoption.

We made the blog?! I think we were kind of nuts to drive 400 miles one way to see Cinnamon and get our book signed, but we had a great time! And our picture is on the blog? That's awesome! I could sincerely feel the disapproval eminating from Cinnamon. It was wonderful.

It was certainly fun. Cinnamon was a star, and I particularly liked Grayson doing his "comics shopping". I got home from work today and Son was showing me his favorite Disapprovals in his book....this was his first signing ever.

It was so much fun to meet Cinnamon and all the other fabulous disapproving bunnies! Thank you for signing my book (I was the girl in the girl hoodie who was bunny deprived) and being so fabulously nice!

My daughter, who lives in Minneapolis, and best friend went to meet Cinnamon and yourself, had a ball and emailed me photo they took of you two celebrities! No explanation, just the photo. If they didn't have huge dogs, they'd have a Cinnamon.Caroline in South Dakota

Sharon,This seems like an odd question, but how do you manage miss Cinnamon's bathroom habits when she is out and about for a while? Portable litterbox? Congrats again on the book's success! That party looks like a hoppin' good time. (I think buns disapprove of puns, but I had to!)

Congratulations, Cinnamon! It's always nice to see a bunny make good, especially when she's related to such a neat human. I can't wait for my book to arrive..I think it's in line to be personalized/autographed..woohoo!

Rebecca--excellent question. I figured we weren't going to be there more than two hours, so I didn't bring a portable litterbox, Cinnamon is usually pretty good about her litterbox habits and can go a good two to three hours without needing one.

But Cinnamon did start dropping a few pellets that night--I think because of the other bunnies there. Fortunately, one of the MCRS peeps let her borrow a litter box.

We got Pippin's copy of "Disapproving Rabbits" yesterday, and I proudly showed it off to some friends. They both misread the title as, "Disappearing Rabbits"!

I was tickled to see my Pips in there with a rabbit as famous as Cinnamon. Thank you for sending us a copy! It was very generous of you and I wasn't expecting it. And just so you know, the folks down here in Atlanta are going Disapproving Rabbit mad too!

Sharon,Thanks for the reply! I asked partially because I'd like to be able to take my rabbit Samuel with me places, and have thought about how I'd handle the litter issue. The biggest problem to tackle now is his skttishness about cars. He gets so nervous when he is taken out of his environment, I can't imagine how I'm going to successfully car-train him. I am hoping once I have him neutered this month he'll perhaps be more docile and easy to take out of the house. Man, though. I bet I'll be in for the disapproval of a lifetime right after I have him altered.